The name is said to derive from wildcats at a crossing of the River Ravensbourne. Catford's most prominent landmark is the Catford Cat, a giant fibreglasssculpture of a black cat above the entrance to the Catford Centre. This is a small shopping centre, housing Tesco and Iceland supermarkets as well as independent shops in the punningly-named Catford Mews. There is a street market on Catford Broadway. Catford has several pubs and a variety of non-chain restaurants and cafes.
Lewisham Council's town hall and local government offices are located in Catford, near a crossroads of the Catford Gyratory road system. The art deco Broadway cinema in the borough stood opposite the theatre until its closure in 2002, while Catford's public library is on another corner.
It is covered by London postal district SE4, and lies on the old boundary between the Lewisham and Deptford parishes.
In 1894, after being bought with the proceeds of private donations and funding from the LondonCounty Council, the fields were transformed from old brickpits and ditches into a park.
'London is happy in its clean air, in the Christian religion, in the strength of its fortifications, in its natural situation, in the honor of its citizens.
Wool was still the main export from London but there were also exports of 'Excellent saffron in small quantities, a great quantity of lead and tin, sheep and rabbit skins without number, with various other sorts of fine peltry (skins) and leather, beer, cheese and other sorts of provisions'.
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